To walk, or not to walk, that is the question

October 16, 2004 — 10.00am

The big issue in cricket circles yesterday - apart from Shane Warne's world record - was whether batsmen who walk deserve to be congratulated or condemned. Are they being good sports? Or undermining the umpire's authority?

Replays showed three Australians who walked in the Test against India on Thursday - Adam Gilchrist, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz - were out to bat-pad catches. Gilchrist and Gillespie would no doubt have been given out if they had not walked.

Kasprowicz's case was different. It was apparent the umpire, David Shepherd, had not intended to give him out, and Shepherd looked surprised and disconcerted when Kasprowicz chose to go. Flustered, he turned to the other batsman, Simon Katich, as if to ask what on earth was going on.

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Yesterday, there was sympathy for Shepherd among umpires in Australia.

According to one former Test umpire, who is still a prominent member of the umpiring fraternity, the incident may result in the walking issue being discussed at national level.

While a ban on walking was out of the question, he said, batsmen at the interstate level and above might be encouraged, as a matter of policy, to always let the umpire decide whether they were out. "My strong belief is that batsmen should never walk."

Walking does not seem to have ever been common in top-level cricket, and it might have been expected to disappear altogether when the game went professional. Apart from Gilchrist's celebrated walk in the semi-final of last year's World Cup, there have been few, if any, instances of it in recent times.

Perhaps Gilchrist started something then, for now that three Australians have done it in one innings it suggests a change of attitude among batsmen. For instance, Justin Langer is said to have walked twice recently in club matches.

Those against walking say a batsman who walks after the umpire has declined to give him out is effectively letting everyone know the umpire is mistaken, thus robbing him of respect and authority. It can also be argued that, no matter how close a player may be to the action, he is often not the best judge of whether he or another batsman is out or not, something Richie Benaud learned to his cost. In one match, as Benaud recalled yesterday, he signalled "no catch" in the belief he had taken a ball on the bounce in the gully, only to discover later that he had taken a clean catch, 15centimetres above the ground.

Batting in another match, on the 1961 England tour, he instinctively took half a step towards the pavilion on hearing a confident appeal behind him for a slips catch. At that same instant he realised he had not hit the ball but, having begun to walk, found he could not stop. Even opposition players expressed surprise afterwards that Benaud had surrendered his wicket needlessly.

Kasprowicz obviously meant to do the honourable thing when he walked on Thursday. Many people watching would have applauded him for it. Yet Shepherd's discomfort was there for all to see.